


Betrayal

by ShadowPhoenixRider



Series: Walk on the Wild Side [8]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Warlords of Draenor - Freeform, everyone has a bad time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-01 04:16:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10180478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowPhoenixRider/pseuds/ShadowPhoenixRider
Summary: Draggka discovers something terrible, and everything goes wrong.





	

Something was wrong.

The Tomes of Chaos Draggka and her comrades had pried from the cold dead hands of Gul’dan’s warlocks were abominations of the skin-crawling kind, and both she and Khadgar agreed that they needed a prompt destruction by the warden Cordana. However, Khadgar had mentioned she’d been distant lately, which made the hunter frown slightly, though she still made the journey to Zangarra.

When the troll arrived at his tower, the mage known as James Lamone had warned her that Cordana was acting strangely, and had declared the tower off-limits to everyone, and with her demeanour, no-one had had the courage to push the issue. That was enough to cause the troll to become very concerned, and for that sense of ‘wrongness’ to twist inside her gut.

Draggka took her bow from her back and the sack containing the accursed books from her pack, and approached the tower warily, Spike close to her side. Cordana was standing with her back to the hunter, though she turned her helmeted head at her approach.

“I am busy, Draggka,” she said coldly. “Finish your business here and move on.”

As the troll closed the distance between them, she noticed with a start that a familiar purple black orb was on a stand in front of the warden, its surface swirling like a windswept sea.

“…What you be doing wit da Orb of Dominion, Cordana?” Draggka asked, both her and her raptor’s hackles rising.

“Nothing. Nothing that concerns you. I have this under control.” Cordana turned around properly, her gaze falling onto the sack. “What is in there?”

“Khadgar be wanting you to destroy dese books,” she said, half-heartedly offering the sack to the warden. It was snatched from her hand (accompanied with a growl from Spike), and Cordana plucked the tomes out, opening and leafing through one. If she hadn’t been wearing a helmet, Draggka had the sense she would be smiling, and the troll wondered if she shouldn’t just start to back out now.

“Books. Yes. Gul’dan’s tomes. Are you sure Khadgar didn’t try to use them?” She said, forming a fel pentagram with the one in her hands, the troll’s fur prickling at the magic and Spike’s lips curling into a snarl.

“No. Of course not.” Draggka said coolly. “You know he be better than that.”

“Is he now?” The troll’s hand tightened on the grip of her bow at the insult, but the warden didn’t elaborate. “Books of power…Books of knowledge…Books written in the language of chaos…Don’t you worry, champion, all will be destroyed.”

_Why do I doubt that?_ Draggka thought. _Damnit, I shouldn’t have walked in here at all._

“Now, give me your ring. I need it.” Cordana thrust her gauntleted hand out to the hunter. The troll did a double take, looking between her hand and face.

“My…ring?” She glanced to the magical item on her left hand, the red gem gleaming in the fel light.

“Yes, your ring. _The_ ring! The one Khadgar has been cooking up for you since we arrived on Draenor.” The warden stepped forward and Draggka stepped back, Spike’s body lowering and he let out a low, warning growl. “Give it here. I just want to borrow it.”

Draggka snarled, baring her tusks in a mirror of her raptor’s threat display.

“Oh, HELL no!” She cried.

“Then I will take it from you!” Cordana yelled, bringing her glaive to bear. “For the glory of Gul’dan!”

Spike roared, springing from his coiled position to leap onto the warden, his talons scraping down her armour with a screech, distracting her long enough for Draggka to back off, nocking and loosing an arrow towards the elf’s neck. Cordana hurled the angry beast off her, the arrow breaking against her pauldron and she lunged towards the hunter.

“The Orb of Dominion spoke to me! I saw the truth!” She cried, Draggka Disengaging to dodge the sharp blade slashing at her belly. The warden attempted another charge, but Spike leapt onto her again, talons tearing through her cloak and halting her attack. She turned on him, the raptor roaring with pain as her glaive cut into his blood red hide, but Cordana was unable to press her advantage as the troll’s arrows thudded skilfully into the gaps between her armour. She kicked Spike off once again, the remains of her cloak coming away with the raptor’s snarling body, tangling him up.

“Khadgar is just a child, swaggering around, torturing his prisoners, playing with lives, dabbling in magics he pretends to comprehend!” The elf hissed, dashing forward with a burst of fel magic, managing to get a hit on the hunter’s side before the troll managed to put distance between them.

“And dat makes Gul’dan better?” Draggka spat. “Tink, Cordana! He be preying on ya doubts for his own ends!”

“You are blind!” Was the response. “How can you defend the man that almost killed you? Who played it off like some big joke?”

“Because I trust him!” The hunter replied, loosing an arrow. Cordana dodged it, the missile thudding into the brickwork. “I be trusting him to be doin’ da right ting, and not destroy everyting I know and love!”

“And that worked out so well with Garrosh, didn’t it?”

Despite knowing she was being baited, Draggka couldn’t control the pure rage that surged through her, almost making her berserk.

“Don’t you _dare_ compare dem!” She screamed, arrows flying from her bow, though many glanced off the elf’s armour. “Khadgar is _nothing_ to Garrosh! _Nothing!_ ” _  
_

There was probably a sneer under that helmet, as Cordana charged and slammed Draggka into the floor, her bow knocked from her hands and sliding out of reach. Cordana lashed out with her glaive, the troll grasping it in her hands to prevent it from slicing open her neck, roaring savagely as she finally gave into the primal rage. Spike pounced then, finally free of his trap, and he clamped his jaws around Cordana’s glaive arm, whilst his claws dug into the gaps of the warden’s armour. 

“I’ve had enough of you, you little wretch!” She snarled, turning to punch the raptor square in the jaw, which only made Spike snarl and tighten his grip, allowing his partner to wriggle free. Draggka went for her emergency knife strapped to her lower leg, and she plunged it into the gap of armour on the warden’s side with all her strength, feeling the knife judder as she hit bone. She pulled it clear out, slick with blood, and she prepared for another thrust.

“Enough!” Cordana yelled, and a bright burst of fel energy sent Draggka and Spike flying, the flash sending spots bursting in front of the troll’s eyes.

“Very well, struggle in futility.” The warden spoke with contempt, though the troll smirked at hearing the obvious pain in her voice from her wound, even when she was busy trying to recover from the stun that left her vision muggy and blurred. “Nothing with stop Gul’dan, for the Legion stands behind him. Mark my words. Your leaders will betray you. Azeroth will _burn!”  
_

Spike roared and charged the warden as she stepped through a demonic portal the fel pentagram had summoned, but his jaws only snapped at empty air. The hunter cursed, sitting upright and rubbing at her eyes to clear them. She felt Spike nudge her face with his muzzle, and she opened her eyes, seeing her bow gently held in his mouth.

“Thank you, Spike,” she said, petting him and running her fingers over the wounds he’d received. “Let me heal these.” She murmured, placing her hands over the gash. Hunters didn’t have much in the way of magic, but they had learnt they could use the bond they had with their animal companion to harness a type of nature magic to heal their wounds. Draggka always wondered if it could do more, but she’d never pried too deeply. She was a hunter, not a druid (that was her brother Dranka's business).

As she healed Spike, she became aware of eyes on her back, and she looked over her shoulder. The Kirin Tor magi were clustered just outside the entryway, all with wide, worried eyes, but too nervous to cross the threshold.

“Draggka?” James spoke first. “What happened? We heard fighting…”

“Cordana has been corrupted by Gul’dan.” The hunter replied, and shock rippled through the magi. “She be escaping through a portal before I could stop her. I…” She breathed out a sigh. “I be needing to tell Khadgar.”

The mages continued to murmur amongst themselves as she got to her feet, the wound on her side throbbing with pain for the first time as her adrenaline drained, replacing her bow onto her back. She ignored it (it was thankfully only a minor flesh wound), gathering the spare arrows that had missed their target, returning the whole ones to her quiver as her mind whirled. She had not been close to Cordana, but she was still a friend; they’d fought together against the Iron Horde, and they had both worked together to protect Khadgar’s back. To see her twisted by Gul’dan…the troll’s heart grew heavy at the thought she’d have to tell the archmage. To bring someone she cared about such bad news…

Draggka reached into her pack, retrieving the Admiral’s Compass. Spike came to her side as she traced the pattern Khadgar had shown her on its face, feeling the magic react to her, building around it until it suddenly burst around them. The troll closed her eyes as the world literally fell away, the ground suddenly vanishing beneath her feet. Draggka could tolerate walking through portals fine, but if she watched the effect of teleportation, it made her violently ill, like an extreme form of motion sickness, the visual confusion too much for her.

Damp wood connected under the soles of her feet, then the slap of sea air and the chill of Frostfire’s wind, and Draggka opened her eyes, greeted by the Frostwall shipyard, and specifically the dock where the destroyer the Awakener was moored. It loomed over her, the arakkoa crew busy making repairs and seeing to the rigging after their last mission, some noticing her and offering a greeting.

She nodded in response, before turning and striding towards the main area of the shipyard, where all the docks merged. She also nodded to the wolfriders she passed on patrol, her orange eyes scanning for a familiar face.

She spotted him as she came to the end of the Awakener, his focus on the ship in front of him, his blue eyes far away whilst the sea wind played in gusts around the hem of his robes.

Draggka paused a moment, whilst Khadgar was distracted, watching him and wrestling with herself. Since they’d agreed to begin a relationship, everything seemed to have happened all at once. He’d hit upon the idea of using the Orb of Dominion in reverse to free Garona, and when it succeeded, they’d infiltrated Gul’dan’s stronghold and promptly watching everything kick off as Gul’dan usurped Grommash’s leadership, turning the Iron Horde into the Fel Horde.

The Frostwall shipyard was rapidly constructed afterwards in response, with the assistance of a defector from the Iron Horde, and the invasion of Tanaan Jungle had begun. Draggka had been caught up in missions into the jungle, and it had left little to no time for her and Khadgar to explore anything any further than snatched conversations, quick touching of hands and shy smiles. It left her desperate for just some time for the both of them to take a breather.

And now this. He looked so relaxed and care free. How could she let him know that a close friend was now…no more?

Spike nudged the back of her legs, making a grunting noise.

“Alright, alright. Here goes.” She took a steeling breath, petting the raptor’s head, before stepping out into the mage’s line of sight. His eyes flicked to the movement, and they brightened, a smile pulling at his lips. For once, it didn’t make her heart skip; it only made it want to bury itself into the sharp edges of her breastbone.

“Draggka!” Khadgar’s deep voice couldn’t calm her either. “How is Cordana doing?” His eyes traced over her, lingering at the wound on her side. “You’re injured. Is all well?”

The hunter blew out a sigh through her nose, Spike resting his head against her thigh in comfort.

“No.” She shook her head. “Cordana has been corrupted by Gul’dan, through da Orb of Dominion. She be taking da tomes from me, and tried to be taking da ring. When I resisted, she attacked.” Draggka gestured to the wound in her side, her thick blood already clotted. “I be gettin’ de upper hand when she stunned me and escaped. I lost her.” A pause. “I’m sorry, Khadgar.”

Her heart hurt as his face fell, and the warmth bled out of his eyes, replaced by…fear?

“Oh no…” He shook his head. “No no no…I just…I thought it was part of her stone-cold warden routine. I didn’t realize…”

Abruptly, the archmage turned on his heel and strode away, towards the secluded bay that served as Frostwall’s construction yard and dry dock, and Draggka had to break into a jog to catch up with him.

“Khadgar.” No response, not even a check in his pace. “Khadgar!” The sharpness of her yell made him stop, but he kept his back to her. “What are we going to do?”

“We can’t do this.” He said quietly, almost inaudibly.

“What do you mean?” She asked, her brows furrowing.

Khadgar finally turned to her, and his face was such a grim mask that it chilled her to the bone with how cold it was.

“This thing we have between us…We can’t continue it. It’s too dangerous,” he said.

Draggka felt her heart freeze mid-beat in her chest, and it took a second for her to pull in a full breath.

“What? But,” she frowned properly. “How? How can dis be more dangerous den everyting we already faced so far?”

“Don’t you see?” Khadgar’s voice was strained, as if he were trying to keep a lid on his emotions. “This is exactly what Gul’dan does! He finds our weaknesses and turns them against us. He struck at Cordana because she was close to me, exploited her doubts and concerns about me to twist her.” He closed his eyes, sighing. “With her gone, you are next, Draggka. I’m sure she had suspicions about our closeness, and is no doubt relaying them to Gul’dan as we speak.”

“You tink he not be already targeting me for de attacks I be makin’ against him?“ She retorted.

“Don’t be so foolish!” Khadgar snapped, his grip on Atiesh tightening. “You know what he is capable of, what he will do to get his own way. You have only been a capable thorn in his side, not his main target. I have been his main concern through our time on Draenor. If he knows we are close to one another, he will turn his full attention upon you and will not stop until he breaks you, breaks us, and I-” The mage hesitated, and the anger bled from him, leaving behind deep, tired lines on his face. “No. We cannot let him think we are anything more than friends. We cannot allow him any more ammunition. I can handle his ire against me. You are a champion of the Horde, one of our best chances at striking him down. I- We cannot afford to lose you to his machinations, especially now.”

Draggka couldn’t say anything for several moments. His words were ringing true like bells; if Gul’dan preyed so easily on Cordana’s fear and frustration, it wouldn’t be difficult at all for him to take advantage of their feelings and use them as a stick to beat them with or twist them into something hideous and corrupted. And she _was_ needed to fight him at full strength. They couldn’t give him the chance to get any more powerful.

But why did she want to scream at Khadgar? To yell that he was wrong and an idiot? Why was it hurting so much?

“Okay.” She eventually managed through a thick, clogged throat, the word like a fish bone with how it scraped its way out of her.

“I’m sorry, Draggka.” Khadgar said, looking away from her, towards the sea. “I must take my leave, to…to try and sort this out. Farewell.” With that, he teleported away, leaving the hunter alone.

Draggka felt numb and hollow, her emotions and energy just…gone, as if drained by a felhunter. Spike nudged against her legs, trying to nuzzle against her hand, yet not even his touch lit anything within the void of her chest. She turned away, making her way to Frostwall’s keep, and the raptor gave a whine, running after her. The hunter didn’t react to any of the people she passed, not even her title turned her head.

Dranka was crouched by the small tree close to the keep, and he rose to his feet as the hunter approached, his brows knotted with concern.

“Sister?” He asked, and when she didn’t even acknowledge him, he called: “Draggka!”

“Leave me alone,” she said, a note to her voice that was so heavy it could have been dragging along the ground. Spike whined again, almost pressed to her leg as she moved, as if he was trying desperately to connect with her, to use the bond they shared to shake her from her fugue.

No-one stood in her way as she entered the keep and ascended the stairs, Spike nipping into her room with her before she slammed the door shut, sliding the bolt across to lock out the outside world.

Draggka paused, taking in a rattly breath before she stumbled all the way to her bed, discarding her quiver and pack on the way and sitting down heavily. She unstrung her bow, and set it aside, only looking up when Spike chuffed, his breath disturbing her hair.

He was standing in front of her, muzzle inches from her face, and his deep blue eyes gazed into hers, open, honest, and full of trust. It reminded her of the bond they had shared since the first time Spike had allowed her to touch him, the first time she’d looked back to see their paired footprints in Durotar’s red sands, the first time the raptor had laid his head in her lap and she’d known he _loved_ her.

Something snapped inside her.

Draggka’s eyes filled with tears and a broken sob tore itself from her throat. Spike stepped closer, nuzzling into her as she wrapped her arms around him, curling her fingers into the tribal beads and necklaces that adorned him and began to cry into his crimson hide. Her sobs wracked her body, the void inside her now full to bursting and roiling hard enough that it threatened to rip her apart, peeling away her seams just like she had done to Deathwing years ago. It was only the rumble she felt from Spike, that vibrated against and within her, that kept her vaguely together, her mind howling a thousand questions without a single answer.

Dranka stood outside his sister’s door, listening to her weeping and the broken Zandali that came with it, his ears drooping. Then he frowned, and his fists clenched tightly, the ghostly outline of tiger stripes darkening along his fur.

_Why did you do this to her, you fool?_

**Author's Note:**

> Oops.


End file.
